Unknown
by MuddyBeach
Summary: Bella & Alice have an unknown secret about themselves. A secret that can help save the country & the people. A secret that the Rebels can use. But who are these Rebels, can they be trusted? How can the girls use their secret that not even they know?
1. Beginning

**I'm really excited for this story because it is a plot line that I've pretty much been fixing and working on for two years now. And when I mean fix, I mean the story line has been beaten and butchered to a pulp to get to where it is today. :)  
**

_Summary..._

Bella and Alice, sisters, have an unknown secret about themselves. A secret that can help save themselves and their country. A secret that the Rebels can use. But who are these Rebels, can they be trusted and what is their secret that not even the girls know about? Should the girls risk everything and run away from the lifestyle that was all they knew? To save their country? For freedom?

...

**Twilight and all of its characters are not mine, they belong to Stephenie Meyer. I just find them extremely fun to use. **

I wake in a sweat, flinging my covers like they are on fire.

Slowly reality sets in and I am calm, in my bed and cold. A thin stream of light comes in through the small window, a thin beam of comfort in the darkness of the early morning. With a groggy effort I sit up, shaking off the nightmare.

"You're up," my sisters voice chimes from across the room. A small lamp illuminates her corner of the room, showing her tiny figure struggling with the thick knots in her short hair.

"Hmpf," I mumble, staring blankly up at the high window, watching as it slowly becomes brighter with the coming morning. Too soon.

"It is simply impossible," my sister speaks up after a short silence, undisturbed in the least by the dark stillness. "I cut my hair and it still gets knots. They're relentless!" She continues to run the comb through, yanking until there is no hair left. She huffs, "I think I'll go bald." Continuing to fight her hair I hear her mumble, "Stupid rebel hair—"

"What?" I ask urgently.

She seems shocked I spoke but gets over it quickly. "I said I think I'll go bald."

"No, you said something about a rebel?" I feel stupid asking about it, hearing the ridiculousness of it. It is only a nightmare. "Never mind." I say quickly and she thankfully lets it go.

I yawn and release a large stretch. You're always tired when your night consists of horror. Shaking my head, I continue to stare blankly through the darkness, confused with the turn of events in this nightmare. I try not to mull over it too much. It's pointless, nothing ever helps.

The silence persists and I can tell Alice is stealing glances my way. Unable to take it any longer, she speaks up: "You had it again didn't you?"

I don't answer right away. Part of me doesn't care too, but I know I should; locking it up only shows that I'm afraid of it, that I believe it. Besides, silence for too long was never good for me. It's one of those things where if you stay silent for too long, speaking again feels foreign to the tongue, like a large headache. "Not really, it was different."

She seems shocked by this and places her comb back on the table. "Did you live?"

I stare at her for a moment, lost in thought before answering. "There was a pleasant little tea party." I grinned and Alice rolls her eyes. She never likes to joke about my nightmares. What she doesn't understand it's the only way to reassure me that they are just that, nightmares; just another form of a dream, not reality. It's my way of getting through the day without having to worry about them coming true.

Alice came over to sit next to me. Her small frame sinks and the hinges of the bed make a loud creak, disrupting the quiet. "Bella I'm worried," she takes hold of my cold hands, "you've been having them far too consistently. Maybe we should—"

"Maybe we should do what?" I ask a little too abrupt. But I am tired of this conversation. "Tell someone? Who would we tell? Who would care? If we tell any of the staff, you know they'd just put me back on the streets thinking I were some crazy lunatic. Then where would I be? Where would you be? All alone in this," I look around the small confines of our room, "dungeon?"

"We could tell Angela," she whispers. I know she is scared. I am scared too. But, they are just nightmares. They're not a disease and if anything, they're just a blatant sign that I am going insane. It's already bad enough that Alice has to feel the burden of them too; I won't drag anyone else I care about into it.

"No, we won't burden her anymore then she already is," I say firmly.

Her eyebrows knit together, "You don't see them like I do. It's like a daemon takes over your body, and you, you…" Her eyes that have been resting on the floor rose to meet mine. "I'm scared."

I squeeze her hand. "They're just dreams."

We get ready quickly, not wanting to be late for our responsibilities. Up the cold stone steps, we go and out into the servants' corridor.

Our first stop is the kitchen.

The castle is a silent Lion; quiet but lethal. The walls seem to breathe a whisper of warning and the windows never seem to clear their murky luminance. If ghosts were real, they would be walking right beside us in this place, haunting the evil that resides here.

Everyone knows it, everyone who works here feels it. That is why a person spends as little time as they can walking through the corridors. I always try to walk fast but Alice never seems to feel the ominous cloud hanging over our heads. She goes at a lazy dance. The only time I can get her to walk fast is when she's skipping. Yet, today she walks in a mute silence, staring directly ahead in a stiff march.

If you were blind, walking through the castle, you would know how to find the Kitchen. Just keep walking aimlessly about until you start to hear the clanging pans and shouting people. We open the heavy doors and an onslaught of life ripples over us. This seems to awaken Alice because she smiles and looks at me before skipping in. Long marble counters circled the whole room and two individual, long island counters are set in the middle of the room as people circle and dance around them. To survive the hustle, you must learn the ways of the dance.

Right away we spot the plump body of Ms. Angela's twirling around the room shouting orders. "Not in that pot you blubbering bafoon! You injure your brain this morning? Hey you! Get to work, I don't allow slackers in my kitchen!"

The cook, Angela, has been Alice and my knight in shining armor after our parents died when Alice was six and I eight. The palace took us in to train us as ladies in waiting after we became orphaned. The Lady trainer, after hearing my disturbing nightmares and seeing Alice's numerous collapses into comatose state, deemed us unfit for ladies in waiting and made us helpers instead.

Angela became our life. There to cheer us up when the days work was too strenuous, there to fill our bellies in secret when the portions were too slim and there to teach us the difficulties of being a woman. She immediately scooped us up and petitioned us to be helpers in her Kitchen. It was the greatest blessing anyone could have given us at that point. The work was hard and strenuous, but not nearly as bad as it could be under another labor job. I have heard the stories.

The kitchen is always filled with life and good smells.

"There you are!" Angela booms in a cheerful voice, much more cheerful than earlier. "It's about time. You girls get later and later every day! I'm gonna have to start getting you myself. Then see how early you have to wake up."

Alice, ignoring Ms. Angela's rant, hops up on her toes and asks loud enough to be heard over the noise in the kitchen "Have any errands you need us to run outside today?"

Angela grins and pulls out of her pocket a list along with some coins. "I shouldn't give it to you seeing as you're so late all the time. But it needs to be done by someone and all these cracker heads aint got the eyes that you girls do?" She teases. "Now don't you girls go spend your whole day out there, I've still got a list of things that need getting done in here." She gives us a pointed look then huffs away.

It's always nice to escape the castle for a while. The cold morning air is like a frosty blanket of freedom that wraps around my skin. I breathe in deeply through my nose, the feeling of escape.

We walk at a brusque pace, getting to the market just as the shops begin to open. "What's on the list?" Alice grabs my shoulders and propels herself up playfully. I stumble forward and Alice only giggles.

Rolling my eyes I read off the list, containing mostly different assortments of herbs and meats.

"This sounds like a trip to Waldrons" I state, raising my eyebrows in her direction.

"Then Waldrons it is."

We always go to Waldrons, probably because it is the furthest from view of the castle and closest to the Tangled Forest. There was something about the Tangled Forest that drew Alice and me in. I felt a sense of curiosity mixed with uneasiness every time I neared it. Alice said she felt excitement.

We move past the busy villagers, heading for the back of the market.

Already we see old Waldron getting the front of his tent organized. I point him out and begin to walk over but Alice stops and grabs my arm.

"Do feel that?" Her eyes are staring intently past the market into the forest.

"Feel what?" I ask, only feeling the gentle breeze.

"Do you see that?" Her eyes widen. I look in the direction of her trance.

"Alice I don't see or feel anything." I place my hand on her shoulder and squeeze it gently to get her to look at me before she's too lost. Don't be another one of her 'states' I plead. Please let us just get through another normal day. She lifts her hand in front of her face and studies it for a second. I back off afraid if I touch her she'll lash back like before. Nothing good ever comes out of Alice's "feelings".

She looks beyond her hand and murmurs, "We have to go into the forest."

"What?"

"We have to go into the forest!" She yells and begins sprinting for the trees.

"Alice! No we can't!" I sprint after her. "Alice wait!" Time stood still, no more wind, no more market activity, only Alice and I sprinting for the Tangled Forest. My stomach drops and my heart beast like a hummingbirds wings. We can't go in. The Tangled Forrest is for thieves and mischief. The Tangled Forest is my worst nightmare. There is evil in here. I know. I just know. Wrong. It was all wrong. "Stop!" But she continues to run, tangling herself through the thick trunks and gnarled bushes. What is she doing? Where is she going? We are getting deeper in the forest and the feeling of dread in me gets stronger. It's all wrong. "Alice stop!" As soon as the words leave my mouth, she freezes, but not because of what I said, she is looking up. I run into her back to stop myself. "Alice what was that?" I asked out of breath as she stares blankly up at the sky. It is quiet in the depths of the forest.

I looked around. Something wasn't right. We shouldn't be here. My eyes darted around the twisted branches; the hanging limbs, and land on a strange red berry bush that snakes around a tree. I'd been here before. A cold dread fills my veins. I look down and scream.

How is this happening? This can't be!

"Alice, don't look down!" But it is too late; her trance is broken and she looks down and she sees it too. I am quick to cover her mouth to stop the scream. It's my nightmare. We are literally in my nightmare. How is this happening? I turn Alice away but I can't help but look back at the coldness. The stillness. The vacant dead eyes that stare up at nothing. The dead man lying on the ground beside the twisting red berry bush. It is my nightmare. The same man every time that haunts me in my sleep, lies no more then ten feet away, the same motionless body, the same red bush that he resides under every time.

My mind scrabbles for reason, finding none. This can't be. My nightmare isn't real!

Alice is still struggling in my grasp. The sight of a dead man too much. I keep my hand over her mouth to stop the screams.

Rule number one: We must not make a noise. She squirms under my grasp but I hold tight and pull her behind a tree, away from the site of the streams of blood.

Frozen, on edge, and about to throw up my insides, I can't think. It _is_ my worst nightmare, coming true. If it really is, I know what happens next, and we can't stay here.

Rule number two: don't let them see you.

**Dum Dum Dummmm**


	2. Nightmare

**Hey so if you read the first chapter before this chapter this second chapter came into existence, you may notice that I have switched to present tense. It will be my last switch, promise. (mainly because it took way too long) But I really think it helped the story on a more personal level and a better way for the action to come through. **

Thanks for reading hope you enjoy :)

**Nighmare**

_It always starts in the Forest; usually a peaceful day. The birds are singing the leaves are rustling in the soft wind and the sun gently peaks in through the little holes of the forest's roof. I know I am in the Tangled Forest because the tree trunks are large and twisted. _

_Sometimes my serene surrounding can go on for hours, other times it ends within seconds._

_The birds stop singing and the sun disappears behind grey clouds. Through the years I've come to memorizing my nightmares even in my sleep. Usually the blood red berry bush gives it away. There is always something off about the bush, the way it snakes its gnarled head around the thick trunk. There is always the dead man; so beautiful with his pale skin and golden hair. Young, too young. _

_Sometimes he looks like he could be sleeping, tired from a long days journey. Other times, he's covered in blood, gashes on his head, his chest, everywhere. There's always a rough stone laying on his chest, like some ritual to perform after the death of a loved one. I always wonder if someone was with him when he was killed and had only just enough time to give their respects by placing the stone where I see it lay. It's not long after I spot him that I hear the shrieks and the woman's cries. _

_After this, I either run or stay to fight. When the man looks like he is sleeping, I tend to stay, like if I can protect him, he'll wake up. When he is bloodied, I tend to run. Sometimes I stay or run either way, when you have one nightmare so often, you tend to have a lot of time to try new things. _

_When I stay, I am always killed. There is no way to fight. How do you fight a Trucelentor and win? You don't. The woman always comes into view first, more surprised than anything to see me. She tells me to run. She tells me to help her. She tells me to never give him it. I never know what she means by the last one. But it doesn't matter because soon the Trucelentor comes, and I am dead. _

_When I run, I am always caught before I get far enough. Sometimes I am caught by the Trucelentor, other times by one of their demon dogs. I never know how they know I am here. They just do._

_Either way, I die. _

_Until last night. _

**_Last Scene: _Frozen, on edge, and about to throw up my insides, I can't think. It is my worst nightmare, coming true. If it really is, I know what happens next, and we can't stay here.**

**Rule number two: don't let them see you.**

We have to hide. They'll be coming.

After I woke up this morning, I told Alice that my nightmare changed by saying there was a tea party, which she knows is an obvious lie. The thing she does not know is that my dream was different, just not in the way I said. The thing that changed in my last dream is that I finally ran and found a place to hide before they found me.

A shrill shriek comes from the woods behind us and then a terrifying scream of a woman. We had to go quickly.

I grab Alice and will us in the direction that I remember. Alice follows but she's still rigid from shock. Seeing the dead man I'd become too familiar with.

My eyes frantically roam the forest for the tree with the hollowed out base.

I practically drag Alice. She won't cooperate and I am afraid to yell for fear they might realize we are here. My breath is labored and my arms to weak to drag her so strenuously. "Come on Alice!" I whisper low. We'll never find it at this rate.

It is no where in site; maybe my latest dream about the hiding place was wrong. What if this really isn't my nightmare? What if that screaming woman is running away from a dangerous man and not the Trucelentors? What if I can actually help her?

A high pitched shrill comes again and I know it is a Trucelentor. I know that scream. It has to be. There is nothing I could do for the woman. Those hooded yellow eyes that are after her will win.

There's no way to describe a Trucelentor. None at least that can accurately depict the gruesome horror they inflict. People say that the only reason a Trucelentor has power over a humans fear so strongly is because of their eyes. Their eyes aren't even eyes. They're floating yellow orbs under the darkness of their hoods that pierce through your skin, burning your insides and making you squirm in fear.

You don't ever see a Trucelentor just walking around. They rule Elevatia, but they don't roam it. Unless there's trouble, people will never see a Trucelentor in their lifetime, and around here we consider that a good thing.

The Trucelentors don't act as our rulers but rather as our gods. They have their fake human king who pretends to rule.

Living behind the castle walls, I've seen the King far more then I have cared to. His sickly transparent skin, his fragile frame and shaky hands only emphasize the pathetic puppet he is to the Trucelentors. Like he actually makes the law. Like he actually cares for "his people". What is actually worse is that people are okay with it. Or they choose to ignore it. It's a joke. The Trucelentors wave this ruling figure in front of us, a person of our kind, and call him our King and we don't do anything. How many people have rebelled? Zero. Fear is the worst trait of a human being.

As a girl who lives right under them and works directly for them, it makes me sick. But worst of all, I don't do anything either. I could. I could try and revolt. Maybe if I did and got enough attention, others would try and revolt with me. I have the inside advantage. I could. But I don't. I am weak. I am pathetic, even compared to the King.

We continue through the forest and I am about to scream out of frustration and panic when Alice tugs on my arm hard.

I am about to scold her for slowing us down when I notice her eyes. They're blank again. She is having another trance. She point in one direction and I know she means for me to follow. I am a little afraid at this point to follow her seeing as she is the one that got us into this mess, but I am running out of options. The shrill is getting louder. We turn to the left a bit and run on. I almost cry out when the hollowed out tree base comes into view.

However Alice found it I have no clue. I don't even know how this could possibly be exactly like my nightmares, but so far it is and at the moment I don't care how Alice found it, only that she did. All I care about is how to stay alive. I have to beat it this time.

I push Alice's head down so that she stumbles into the hole with a thump. I follow close behind.

Soon we are in the hallowed out space of the tree, pressed up against the shadows with the screams becoming louder. All we can do now is wait. I wonder how much I should warn Alice of. There is only so much left of my nightmare before I wake up. My last nightmare was the strangest of all because I hadn't woken up because I was dead, at least not that I knew of. I had woken up by a light, a blinding light.

Alice is still in her trances, staring blankly into open air. She has had them way too much in one day, in one week. I just hope it isn't another 'message'.

Alice told me once that her trances are messages. Sometimes the messages are presented by feelings, sometimes visions, and other times by a woman's voice. I can never say that she is crazy, as much as I want to. But if I say that she is crazy then what would that make me with all my nightmares, especially now that they're coming true?

Over the years her messages have been nothing but obscure. They don't happen often but when they do Alice would get sudden urges to go so something or tell someone something. One time she had the sudden urge to go to the library of all places. I followed her in the dark as she ran to the library eager to read. We aren't even good readers. Our reading and writing lessons stopped when we became orphaned and then started back up again, more vigorously, when we were to become ladies in waiting but then stopped when we became servants. Because of this, I found it extremely annoying that Alice had such an urge to go to the library.

Usually all she picked up were history books. History books here in Elevatia are some what of a joke. Everyone knows the Trucelentors have destroyed all the accurate ones, replacing them with false accounts of the "fall of man" as they call it.

Yet Alice was persistent. For the remainder of that month she went to the library in secret. The only thing she ever came back with that was the least bit interesting was a small bundle of maybe two pages that she had ripped out of what might have been a journal. She told me she found them squeezed in between two shelves near the bottom. It was written in very neat handwriting, but neither Alice nor I could make out the meaning of it. It had probably been ripped from the middle so we had no context of the start or finish. I felt discouraged to read it over anymore, feeling more like an idiot with every read. The words were hard to understand and the thought process the person went through was too confusing.

Alice said that the person was looking for something and that he or she was afraid of being caught. I didn't know how she figured that out, but I felt even more discouraged because I was even an idiot compared to my own sister of flesh and blood. Alice told me not to worry about it because a 'message' had helped her out. The point is, Alice's messages never seem to get us anywhere. If anything, they get us into trouble, like right now.

"Leave me alone I don't have it!" the woman shouts, bringing me back to reality. She is closer and I know it will happen soon; the thing that always confuses me the most in my nightmares. I whisper to myself gently that there is nothing I can do. There is nothing I can do to help this woman.

You can't kill a Trucelentor.

I close me eyes and rest my head on my knees and listen closely, waiting for my queue.

I have never survived a nightmare. When I have tried to save the girl, the Trucelentor always kills me with its various weapons. I've never seen the Trucelentor actually kill the woman. I have either died first or am too far away. I don't know why Trucelentors continues to relentlessly chase her when he could easily kill her. What is the point? What does she have? Or does not?

The woman gasps and lets out a sob. She is at the body. "Emery!" She sobs again. This is where she stops running. "Emery! No!" She screams at the dead body.

"Where is it?" the Trucelentor shrieks. The woman is too busy sobbing to answer. There is a whip and the woman cries out.

"Leave me alone! You'll never find it!" She screams and several more lashes are broken. This is the part I never understand. What is it looking for? What does the woman not want to give him?

"Your kind will be destroyed!" The woman screams. She has become quite bold. No one can kill a Trucelentor, let alone their entire species. "The Rebels live!" she screams. The rebels. That is one of the additions of last night's nightmares. What does it mean? I am almost too distracted to remember what happens next. Quickly I turn to Alice to tell her to close her eyes in preparation for the blinding light, but she is gone.

**Doo Do Doo Do Doo Do Doo Do (twilight zone)**


	3. The Rebels?

**Thanks for waiting. Took a little longer to update then I would have liked but I find as I am writing I like to go back to previous chapters and change some things as well as put some foreshadowing and whatnot in there so I like to be a few chapters ahead of the updated ones. Thanks for being patient and thanks for the reviews. It is surprising seeing how much reviews help me feel good about my story and make me want to write more since my writing is not only for me :) so thanks for that!**

_Recap: "The Rebels live!" she screams. The rebels. That is one of the additions of last night's nightmares. What does it mean? I am almost too distracted to remember what happens next. Quickly I turn to Alice to tell her to close her eyes in preparation for the blinding light, but she is gone._

"Alice!" I yell before slapping my hand over my mouth. Oh no. Was I heard? Where is Alice?

Jumping out of my hiding space, I look around the forest frantically. Where could she have gone? Why would she leave? Unless…

Unless she is in another trance? I remember her vacant stare. Of course! Why did I not make sure she was okay? Stupid!

In the distance the conflict continues. "You! Give that to me!" The Trucelentor growls. I freeze in shock. That isn't apart of the nightmare.

My blood runs cold. _Alice._

Without thought I run back towards the scene of the Trucelentor, the woman and the dead body; back to my worst nightmare. I can only pray that Alice's visions will not be the death of her, but I know they'll be the death of me. I am running back to the place where there is no escape from death. I won't survive this. As soon as they see me, I'll be killed. But I've no time to think more for as I come into view, I see Alice.

Both the woman and the Trucelentor are staring up at Alice, my sister. Her tiny little body, her short crazy hair, so frail and little, is standing in the direct path of danger. Her stance is defiant, and she does not move.

I'm about to scream her name like she may magically disappear from harms way, but the woman beats me to it. "Don't let them have it!" she screams. I can already see the Trucelentor pulling out its dagger. I am frozen. My mind screams to move but my muscles resist. "Give it to the Rebels!" Before she can say anymore, the dagger is lodged into her skull and she drops silent forever. I scream.

Blood. Death. So quick. Right in front of my eyes. Taken by a dagger through her skull.

I am shocked and disgusted. Never have I seen the woman die. I suppose somewhere in the back of my mind she has always been my beacon of hope in my nightmares; the one person that I never had to see die in the night. And now, so violently, so suddenly, she is dead. Part of my scream belongs to the manner of her death, the other to the fear of Alice, still standing there in harms way.

My body, free at last, begins sprinting towards Alice. To do what? I don't know.

I am only half way there when a light begins trickling from Alice's fist. "Alice!" I scream as if to warn her. What type of wicked is this? The light starts dim and slowly intensifies its brilliance as it proceeds to consume her body. I am in panic, yet so is the Trucelentor.

It's shrieking and I think I am doing the same. Her tiny body becomes the sun. In front of her the Trucelentor begins to move, but before it can take its first step, the light explodes out, consuming the Tangled Forest.

Right before I am forced to close my eyes, I see the Trucelentor's form dissipate between the light particles. Like the light had squeezed its way in-between his very bodily substance and carried it away. My last thoughts are that my body will do the same, but then it is dark again.

My eyes are wide from the sharp contrast of the brilliant light to shaded forest. But everything is the same. The trees are still green and lush, and the leaves scattered around the ground have not been blown away or even touched but by the soft wind that remained. Everything is intact. Except the Trucelentor. All that remains is its heavy cloak.

Halfway in between myself and the Trucelentors remains stands Alice, clenching her fist around a small object, still emanating a trickle of light. Without another moment, she collapses to the ground in a faint.

"Alice!" my voice is hoarse and comes out as a gag. Her small body spreads out on the ground, like a mock imitation of the dead bodies that surround this part of the forest.

I am by her side in an instant. "Alice!" I whisper loudly, because I do not know if we are yet alone in the forest. Alice remains silent, except for her long breaths like a sleeping princess. With a gentle thud, her arm falls off its resting place on her stomach and a small stone falls from her fist. Right away I notice the small light emanating from its core.

As soon as the stone hits the ground, its light fades and it is the small ordinary stone I find on the dead mans body last night and every nightmare before that.

The feeling I get is hard to explain. Alice remains still but I feel like I am falling through air. The world seems to tilt in all sorts of ways that I never thought possible. My mind struggles to grasp the meaning of this.

This little insignificant stone, that I have run my eyes across when I have gone to the dead man in an attempt to save something I didn't understand, this stone that I have touched in fake curiosity one-hundred-and-one times in my nightmares, was the key to surviving? A mere insignificant rock?

Awe? Shock? Disappointment? Anger? Jealousy? It was everything.

How could this little stone do so much?

How could this really be the key to everything?

Why haven't I been able to figure this out? I could have stopped all my nightmares.

Why did I have to die and suffer so many times during the late nights all because of this stupid rock?

Why did my own sister of flesh and blood take one try at _my_ nightmare, and solve everything, where I have suffered years of sleep deprivation, of the fear of nighttime, Alice takes it with ease, coming in to save the day in one single try.

I am happy. I am. Why shouldn't I be? I am alive. My sister is alive. I should be grateful that it only took her once to solve the big mystery, else we could be dead. For real.

But _I _didn't save us. Part of me knows it should have been me. I should have been able to come in with the white horse to save the day, I have experience. The evil side of me I suppose thinks that we could have survived with me. I found the hiding spot. But of course, then again, I did not find that either. Alice found it. Alice again saves the day.

I do not know where my bitterness comes from. Here, my little sister lays her head on my lap from exhaustion after saving my own life, and I cannot think of one thought of pure gratefulness.

I'm disgusting. An ungrateful survivor.

I should be ecstatic. I survived my nightmare, no matter whose help I received along the way. The Trucelentor is dead, or gone, or whatever happened to it. Alice killed it. Nobody kills a Trucelentor. It's unheard of.

How long have I sat here? A few seconds? Minutes? We should go.

We are in the Tangled Forest, not extremely far from the capitals market, and a Trucelentor has just been destroyed in front of our very own eyes. No one could have heard it, we're too far. I do not know if anyone could have seen it. It was a bright light, but perhaps the sun is enough at its highest that it will go unnoticed.

What if we are still in danger? What if there are other Trucelentors not too far? Can they sense when one of their kind dies?

The Trucelentor is bound to be noticed as missing by nightfall. How much danger are we in? Can we simply go back to behind the castle walls and continue our lives? Would they know it was us? How could they know? Would they question everyone in the village, ask them where they were at this time of day?

What happens if we can't go back to the castle? How do we know if we can or can't? What will we do if we can't?

This brings me back to Alice, who is still faint. Her long breaths continue and I have no hope in waking her. It is like she is in a trance of sleep. The hero-worthy rock lies at an offensive distance from us, mocking me. I am almost tempted to pick it up and chuck it into the woods. But I know better than that. I give Alice another weak attempt at a shake, but she won't budge. Even if we should go back to the castle, I can't carry her dead weight all that way, at least not before the sun begins its decent and we are both noticed missing as well. Even so, someone would see and question. I certainly can not go back to the market and ask for help. They'll certainly question me when they see the two dead bodies and the unmistakenable heavy black cloak once belonging to a Trucelentor. Then what? Tell them the truth? "Yeah you see my faint sister here lying on the ground grabbed this here rock, made it glow like the sun and 'poof' the Trucelentor who had been chasing us disappeared." Yeah that would go over well.

The only people I trusted were Angela, and Alice. Seeing as Alice was lying on the ground in a mini comatose, she'd be no help. Never would I drag Angela into this mess, mostly because she is getting old and plump so probably won't be much help carrying Alice anyways. But also because it wouldn't look so good to some people seeing me walking all by myself back to the castle and then coming back to the market with Angela and then going back to the castle with Angela and I carrying a limp Alice. The market knows Alice and I too well not to be worried, curious or appalled.

This really only gives me one option, wait for Alice to wake up. If she wakes up soon, maybe we'll be able to run back to the castle, staying hidden as best we can. Then we can fill Angela in and she could help cover up our longer than normal absence. But if Alice doesn't wake up soon, I don't know if we can go back. We would be questioned, found out and punished severely.

I at least have to get us out of here while I wait for Alice to awaken. At least far enough just incase the Trucelentor was not entirely alone. What if they have a search party out already?

I am back in panic mode. I figure I can carry Alice's small figure far enough from the scene of the crime. Maybe we'll go back to the hallow tree.

Before we leave I grab the brainless rock. I figure if we run into another Trucelentor I might be able to flash the thing at it and scare it away, not likely. But I stow it in the pocket of my baggy work trousers anyway. It's got to be important to the Trucelentors, better they not get it.

I take another hesitant look at the woman. So real. All my life she has been this tortured fictional character and now, she is real, but dead.

What were her last words? "Don't let them have it?" Could she really mean that piece of granite? I guess it was a pretty important rock if it dissipated a Trucelentor. But what about "Give it to the Rebels?" Who or what was or were the Rebels? At this point, I don't know what's possible anymore.

But I do know that sitting here and thinking about all this is not safe. I need to get Alice and myself away from this area.

I take one last look at the woman before leaving. In my last look, something catches my eye: her right arm is clutching something at her chest. I don't want to go over, but what if it some stupid important pebble or something? Who knows? Who know that a stinking rock would be so important? At this point I am not taking chances of looking past something "insignifigant". Her head wound is gruesome, but the curiosity is too great. What would she possibly be clutching to at the last moments of her life through all this pandemonium? Maybe it was a lover's gift, or a family heirloom, that's what I thought about the rock. I should not go over. But what if it has something to do with these mysterious Rebels?

With quick hesitant steps, I walk swiftly over to her body where the stench of metallic blood and death are almost too great. It takes me only a second to see that it is a chained necklace. I reach down hesitantly to move her cold hands to see the design, when a cold shriek tears through the air. I snap up. NO! I've waited too long!

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

I should have known there would be more out in the Tangled Forest! Without thought or hesitation, I yank the necklace out of her cold, stiff grasp and run to Alice. I'll worry about the guilt of stealing her jewelry later. I don't know what I plan to do, outrun the Trucelentor?

Maybe it's far enough, it did sound far away. With whatever strength I have, I pull Alice up into my arms like a cradled baby. I am about to run when I hear the fast approach of hooves. Horses? Trucelentors don't ride horses?

_Preview: I freeze. My eyes widen…a person comes into view…First he sees me standing with Alice, and then notes the two dead bodies near us… the shrieks continue_


End file.
